Dixie Little League one win away from World Series

SAN BERNARDINO, Cal. — The Hawaii champions jumped out to a 6-0 lead. That was right where Dixie wanted them.

For the second straight game, Dixie Little League overcame an early six-run deficit to come back and win an elimination game at the Little League World Series Western Regionals. Dixie's bats caught fire in the third inning and never cooled off as the St. George little leaguers scored 12 unanswered runs to beat Hawaii 12-6.

Dixie is now just one win away from playing in the Little League World Series. Dixie will play Southern California Saturday at 7 p.m (ESPN) for the Western Regional championship.

There were many heroes on Friday for Dixie. Parker Andrus and Matt McArthur both went long. Kean Webb had two hits and three RBIs and struck out the side in the fourth and fifth innings. And Kyler Terry and Tayven Mortensen both had two hits and a RBI a piece. In all, eight Dixie players had a hit in the win.

Dixie hasn't taken the easiest route to the West Regional championship game. The Utah champions were routed by Hawaii 14-5 in their first game of the tournament. That sent Dixie into the elimination bracket, and one-loss away from being out of the tournament. But Dixie has proven time and time again over the last few days that that is when it plays its best.

Dixie responded with an 8-5 win over Nevada on Tuesday and then overcame an early 6-0 deficit to Northern California to win that game 13-11 on Wednesday. So when Dixie faced the same deficit on Friday, it wasn't too big of a deal.

Hawaii hung five runs in the first inning and then added another in the second to take the sizeable lead. But it wasn't nearly big enough.

In the third inning, the Dixie bats exploded. Through the first two innings of the game, Dixie had just one hit. The Utah representatives ended with 13.

Terry got the things rolling with an RBI-single in the third innings to put Dixie on the board, and the scoring party never really stopped after that. Dixie scored four runs in the third, four more in the fourth and four more in the fifth.

While the Dixie bats were humming, Webb was rolling on the mound. He took over in the second inning, throwing 5.0 innings and nine strikeouts. He recorded six straight strikeouts in the fourth and fifth innings.

Dixie has now won three straight elimination games. If the St. George kids win one more, they'll be on their way to Williamsport.